


Our Bond Is Stronger Than Death

by megsblackfire



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gabriel is put through hell, M/M, Violence, bondmate AU, lots of minor deaths and then the obvious big ones, minor supernatural elements, pre-fall and a bit afterwards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-02 23:03:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12736113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megsblackfire/pseuds/megsblackfire
Summary: Science can't explain 'bonds', those psychic connections between two or more people's souls. They prefer to pretend they don't exist, that the whole phenomenon is the result of acute mental stress. After all, most bonds appear after traumatic events. Jack and Gabriel know that bonds are real; theirs is stronger than steel.When something goes wrong on one of Gabriel's unofficial Blackwatch missions, Jack feels it in the bond. He knows that time is limited and that he has to get to Gabriel immediately. The pain he feels transmitting through the bond tells him to expect the worst, but he has to go and find him. Even if it means bringing home a corpse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Think "soulmates" without the entire world being in on the phenomenon.

Jack settled back in his seat, watching the UN members fight amongst themselves over the proper procedure for assisting a war-torn London now that the uprising had been quelled. They were enraged that Jack had sent agents to interfere, but they couldn’t deny that it was a great help to the citizens. He was only half-listening, letting Ana take notes as his mind wandered to the steady pulse of his connection to Gabriel.

The bond that scientists claimed didn’t exist was stronger than ever. It pulsed warmly between them, a little strained now that Gabriel was away on an unofficial Blackwatch mission. Officially, Jack couldn’t support anything that Blackwatch did, but he had always had Gabriel’s back, had always approved of his machinations even if they were dangerous and, often, completely unethical. They had to be; they were supposed to protect the world from the shadows that threatened to swallow them. Sometimes, you had to put the rules aside to catch the people that were breaking them.

Lately, the splinter faction that was growing inside of Blackwatch was starting to show signs of outside influence. Gabriel had always been aware of them, monitoring them carefully with a few well-placed agents and none too few bugs. He knew they were dangerous and he wasn’t going to let them go unmonitored.

He had decided to make a move, taking his agents with him to investigate the supposed headquarters. It was a fair distance from Zürich, meaning that he had to break his mandatory on-base suspension; it had taken too long to find a good reason for Gabriel and the other Blackwatch agents to be off base at the same time. Jack didn’t doubt Gabriel’s abilities; he just wished that he didn’t have the UN breathing down his neck so that he could go with his bonded.

He stretched the fingers of his right hand, curling them slowly into a fist. “We can provide more than enough medical assistance,” Jack said, interrupting one of the delegates in the middle of their diatribe. “Overwatch is more than just a military organization; it….”

Jack’s body convulsed. He sucked air in through clenched teeth as he dug his fingers into the arm of his chair. He felt his pupils dilate, pulsing in time with the agony shooting up from his groin. He sucked in air, exhaling brokenly as gunshots echoed in his head. He faintly heard the arm of the chair crunch under the force of his hand, but he didn’t care.

Gabriel was in danger. Someone was shooting at him and had managed to land enough shots to send the pain back to Jack. This was the worst case scenario come to life.

He was on his feet in an instant, leaving the meeting without a second thought. He heard Ana shouting after him, demanding to know what was going on. Jack ignored her, sweeping through the base towards his room. He didn’t have time to explain what was going on; he had to get to Gabriel.

“Nox,” he called.

“Is there a problem, Strike Commander?” the base’s AI unit focused on him immediately.

“Are there any missions heading out towards Italy?” he asked. “I need to get to Venice. Immediately.”

“There is a small team heading for Verona, Italy,” Nox replied. “Shall I request additional space made for you?”

“Yes,” Jack said as he stepped into his room. “Make sure that there is an available vehicle waiting at the landing site as well. I can’t waste time.”

“Understood, Strike Commander,” Nox said as he started unfolding Jack’s personal armory out of the wall. “Shall I notify the medical bay to be prepared for an emergency transport?”

“Yes,” Jack said as he stripped out of his Overwatch uniform and slipped into something stealthier, snapping a helmet down over his head. “And to have every medical procedure imaginable ready for immediate use.”

“It will be done,” Nox said as he lifted Jack’s favourite pulse rifle out of its holding in the floor. “Bring him back, Strike Commander.”

Jack didn’t say anything as he headed for the launch deck. Nox would know what to say to keep the UN off of his back. He knew how to go about keeping Ana from throwing a fit. He was more than capable of keeping the worst of his subordinates at bay. It was nice to have someone else watching his back in a time like this. Funny that it was the AI that he trusted above everyone else.

“I’m coming with you,” Genji growled as he materialized out of the shadows.

Jack didn’t flinch. He wasn’t surprised by Genji’s random appearances anymore. If anything, he found them more annoying now. The young man was just a cesspool of emotions and he was going about all the wrong ways to express them. He should have been talking to a registered psychologist and not brooding in the shadows like a vampire ready to bring down swift death on the unawares.

“Gabriel told you to stay behind,” Jack growled as they fell into step with each other.

“You do not command me,” Genji sneered. “I am his weapon, not yours.”

“If you believe that then Angela has failed to repair your brain,” Jack said without breaking stride. “Anything Gabriel owns is mine by default, just as everything in my possession is at his disposal. He told you to stay behind.”

“Because he didn’t trust me!” Genji shouted. “I slaughtered the Shimada clan and he doesn’t think I’m good enough!”

Jack rounded on Genji and loomed over him. Genji faltered for a moment, red eyes going wide, before he straightened his back. Jack would give him credit where it was due; other men had shrank away under Jack’s gaze, preferring to hide than face down the icy ire of the Strike Commander. Genji would learn his place or he would perish. That was how this confrontation would go; there was no room in Jack for mercy at the moment.

“Gabriel told you to stay here so that you could recover,” Jack said. “Killing your own family would leave massive psychological scars. It has nothing to do with whether or not he trusted you.”

“He took…!”

“I know who he took, Genji,” Jack said coldly. “Who do you think he cleared it with?”

“You’ve never taken an interest in Blackwatch before,” Genji hissed. “Why start caring now?”

Jack cocked his head slowly to the side and smiled darkly. “Who do you think gave the order for Blackwatch to retrieve you?” he asked before he turned away. “Stay here, Genji, and make sure the medical bay is ready for whatever I bring back.”

“You say that like you expect to find the Commander dead,” Genji growled.

Jack gave him a look before walking away. He didn’t know what he was going to find when he got to Venice. All he knew was that Gabriel was in trouble and a great deal of pain. He didn’t expect to find his husband alive.

* * *

 

White light burned through Gabriel’s eyelids. He grimaced, turning his head to the side to get the pain to stop. His head was spinning and his limbs were on fire. It was like someone had inserted a white hot poker into his pupils and was turning them slowly.

“Ah, so the mighty Gabriel Reyes has finally awakened,” a voice laughed.

Gabriel knew his limbs were restrained, but that didn’t stop him from flipping off whoever it was that was mocking him. He wasn’t in the mood for stupid people and even less so for the ones responsible for this. He was in pain, he had been betrayed, and he didn’t know what was going to happen to him. Human test subject was probably high on that list because, let’s face it, he didn’t exactly fill his ranks with the most trustworthy and morally upstanding people. That was partially by design and partially because he and Jack didn’t trust these people out in the world without a watchful eye on them.

“So rude,” the voice laughed again before someone tapped on his head with a pencil. “And after all the trouble we went through to bring you back alive.”

Gabriel only offered a small growl in response, refusing to open his eyes. He ached all over and he didn’t want to open his eyes. He wanted to pretend that this was all a bad dream and that he could sink back into oblivion and wake up on the shuttle to Jesse’s snoring.

Oh gods, Jesse. His eyes snapped open and he glared at the man that he had expected to watch his back. Ash smirked, tapping his pencil against Gabriel’s forehead again. Gabriel flexed his arm and pulled upwards, denting the restraint and making it groan in its moorings. Ash’s eyes opened in alarm and he took a step back, staring as the tendons in Gabriel’s wrist and hand bulged with the effort to get free.

Just as Gabriel was seconds from freedom, electricity arced through him. He cried out in surprise, his spine arching off the medical bed as the muscles in his back were involuntarily forced to contract. His vision turned white and he felt the currents in his brain overload like he was having a seizure. He collapsed back against the bed as the current vanished, his breathing heavy as he stared blindly up at the fluorescent lights overhead.

“You were told not to antagonize him,” a new voice snapped. “He is restrained, not incapacitated. You know that, Ashley.”

“I didn’t think he would be able to break the restraints! That’s solid titanium!” Ash replied.

“Gabriel Reyes is capable of inhuman feats; never forget that,” the second voice said. “I shouldn’t have to tell you that. You are part of his most trusted agents; you are privy to information we were not.”

“He didn’t trust me,” Ash sneered. “He kept me close to keep an eye on me. Look where that got him.”

“Where is McCree?” Gabriel managed to growl.

His head was still spinning, but he managed to turn his head to glare at the two Talon agents. The newcomer wasn’t familiar to him, but he was probably from the lower rank of Blackwatch to keep from being too recognizable. Ash sneered at him, but the newcomer shrugged a shoulder.

“Being put to good use,” they said. “You should be more concerned with yourself, Gabriel. But, I suppose that’s what happens when you treat your faction like a family.”

Gabriel took the all too familiar insult and let it roll off of him. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t already heard a thousand times from Ana. They were always so prickly about how he treated his subordinates; only Jack had ever agreed with him about it. But Jack was thousands of miles away; he wouldn’t get to him in time.

There was a pulse next to his heart and he struggled to keep his smile to himself. Jack must have sensed his fear even from the distance they were from each other. The pulse soothed in time with his heartbeat, keeping itself hidden as Jack zeroed in on him, recalculating his route from wherever he was.

 _‘I’m coming,’_ Jack promised, his voice tickling along the underside of Gabriel’s brain. _‘Just hang on.’_

 _‘Hurry,’_ Gabriel whispered back. _‘Please.’_


	2. Chapter 2

Jack settled his stomach against the grassy knoll and got his rifle in position. In a few, swift movements, it went from being a short to medium range weapon to a sniper rifle powerful enough to bust through concrete. Few people knew that he was capable of being a sniper; they usually saw him as the man that charged in without a second thought. Usually, he was that reckless dumbass that charged in without thinking, but he was capable of taking an attack slow in the hopes of minimizing casualties. He shifted the scope and pressed his eye against it, taking in the scene below him.

Gabriel had directed him to the location he was being held at. Jack had expected heavy resistance. Apparently, Talon believed itself too obscure to require such heavy defences. He only counted three guards making perimeter sweeps and they were doing a messy job of it. They never did anything beyond looking at the ground under their wall. It was pathetic. How were these men even put on patrol duty? It was insulting.

Jack shook his head before carefully taking aim. He breathed in, held the air in his lungs to steady his gaze, and squeezed the trigger. The guard toppled backwards off of the wall, blood and bone spraying from the ruins of their head. Jack popped the heat-sync so that the empty shell didn’t gum up the barrel and snapped the bolt back into place. He waited three minutes before the next guard arrived.

They met the same fate as the other guard, likely landing on top of the other corpse as they fell. One more to go and he would be fine for another half hour. Considering the other guard hadn’t even looked down inside the grounds of the facility, they were undertrained and completely useless at keeping the compound safe. Had Talon really cut that out of their budget? Or were they really that incompetent?

The last guard fell and he moved out of his foxhole. He slipped quietly down the hill towards the facility, keeping himself as low as possible to make sure he wasn’t easy to spot. He sidled up to the building, checking his path carefully with his eyepiece. Then, he set his foot on the bottom of an exhaust fan and hauled himself up the side of the building.

He dropped soundlessly onto the other side and moved towards the pile of bodies on the ground. He rooted through their pockets before he found a keycard. Judging by the numbers on the bottom, it was basic clearance only; he’d get through the front doors and that was it. That was all he needed though. Once he was in, he could focus on finding Gabriel.

 _‘Jack?’_ Gabriel voice tickled the base of his brain. _‘You’re here?’_

 _‘I’m coming,’_ Jack promised. _‘Just hold on a little longer, okay?’_

 _‘I was so scared you weren’t going to make it in time,’_ Gabriel whispered. _‘Find Jesse first. I can’t…he’s not like us, Jack. He won’t survive.’_

 _‘I’ll find our boy,’_ Jack promised. _‘Just stay strong, starlight.’_

Gabriel sent a liquid tremor through Jack’s guts and he grimaced at the sensation. Gabriel must have been terrified out of his mind if he was willing to admit that he wanted to piss himself. It made Jack want to find him immediately, but he had to find Jesse first. Their unofficial child would only survive so long without the enhancements that Jack and Gabriel had.

He swiped the keycard across the locking mechanism to the facility and slipped in. He kept to the shadows as much as he could, using the handheld device that Gabriel had rigged so that Nox could travel with him on missions to disable surveillance cameras until he was out of the way. He moved through the building systematically, clearing each floor out as he went. The fact that he found no one inside worried him; were they all waiting further below or were they really that incompetent to leave a building standing when they were done with it?

He licked his lips as he hurried down a flight of stairs and emerged into what he could only assume were holding cells. There were faint noises coming from the other side of the doors; mostly sobbing and broken whimpers; and he did his best to creep past. Who knew what sort of ruckus a disturbed group of prisoners could kick up?

His heart wanted him to save everyone in the cells, but his mind was in its cold and logical mode. He couldn’t save everyone here; he only had enough room in the getaway vehicle for himself, Jesse, and Gabriel. There wasn’t time to save all the other poor souls in here. He could, however, get a unit mobilized in a few days’ time and have them raid the facility. Nox would be sorting through the footage now even as Jack tried to figure out where Jesse was. The proper forms would be filled out and filed before he got back.

He froze outside of a cell and carefully looked through the small window set near the top of the door. Jesse was lying in a crumpled heap at the back of the cell, his signature Blackwatch uniform missing and replaced with bloody surgical robes. He was lying on his left side with his arm curled in against his chest, head bowed over as his breathing drew heavy tremors from his shoulders.

Jack set his hand on the handle of the door and pushed it open. It wasn’t locked. At first, he didn’t understand why Jesse hadn’t just left, but then he understood as he stepped inside the cell. There was no handle on the inside and since the door swung inwards, there was nowhere to grab it. Not even Jack would have been able to reef it open.

“Jesse,” Jack murmured as he wedged the door open. “Hey.”

Jesse lifted his head and blinked him. His eyes were feverishly wide and sweat covered his forehead, dripping down the length of his nose to soak into the hairs growing in on his upper lip. He blinked slowly before he shifted into an upright position.

“Jack?” he asked in confusion. “That you? That really you?”

Jack nodded and hurried forward, sinking down beside the young agent. “It’s me,” he soothed. “What happened?”

“Blindsided,” Jesse murmured. “Ash…Ash got the first shot in. Gabe…don’t know where Gabe went. Went down, lost sight of him. Been…been here ever since I woke up.”

Jack reached out and gently turned Jesse’s left arm over. Bile rose up at the poor state of his arm; in just a few days, it had turned black and the bullet wound through the center of his tattoo had been left to fester. Pus oozed out of the wound with every movement and blood thickened with coagulation dribbled pasted the flared edges.

“Why wasn’t this looked after?” he asked.

“Tryin’ out somethin’,” Jesse murmured. “Fuck, my head hurts.”

“Blood poisoning,” Jack grimaced as he looked down at Jesse’s arm. “And gangrene. There’s no saving it, Jesse.”

“Fuck,” Jesse whined.

“Come on,” Jack growled as he hauled Jesse to his feet. “Nox, get me in touch with medical; I need to do an emergency amputation.”

* * *

 

Jesse directed Jack to the medical bay. The traitors hadn’t bothered to keep his eyes covered while they were dragging him from one end of the facility to the other. They didn’t know how good his memory was or they would have known better than to let him see where they were taking him.

“In here,” Jesse murmured.

Jack shoved the door to the medical bay open and hauled Jesse inside. “Looks like they cleared out,” Jack growled. “Left you for dead.”

“They were more focused on Gabe,” Jesse shook his head as he hauled himself onto a bed and laid down. “Really wanted to see what made him tick. The docs were all talkin’ about it while they were pokin’ around in my arm.”

“Hmm,” Jack growled as he flipped a few switches on his handheld. “Nox?”

“I have Dr. Ziegler on standby,” Nox replied before the handheld zipped over to scan Jesse’s arm. “She was not happy to hear where you were, Strike Commander.”

“No one will be; don’t care,” Jack replied as he rooted around in the medical supply closet. “All she has to do is tell me how to safely amputate his arm. I can do the rest.”

“Didn’t know you were a medic, Jackie,” Jesse teased.

“Was what I originally joined the army for,” Jack shrugged as he walked over with his arms full of supplies. “Wanted to be a doctor, save people’s lives and make people’s illnesses go away. SEP put the kibosh to that and I haven’t been able to study medicine since. Basics I can do; amputation is not basics.”

“This is outrageous,” Angela’s voice snapped over the commlink. “How could they allow an injury to become that infected? Jack, I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I, but it has to go before Jesse dies from blood poisoning,” Jack snorted. “Walk me through it, Angie.”

“This isn’t something you can walk through, Jack! You need medical equipment, anesthetic, extra hands in case…!”

“We don’t have time for that, Angie,” Jack snorted. “I have one car and enough fuel to get me an hour down the road. There isn’t a hospital close enough for that and I’m not letting Jesse walk.”

“Fine, but he is to come to medical as soon as he returns to base,” Angela ordered. “Get the local anesthetic into him. I don’t like that you have to use it or that he’s going to be awake for the procedure, but that’s the best we can do.”

Jack measured out the necessary amount of anesthetic with a grimace on his face. Jesse watched him tap the needle to get the air bubbles out and spray a small amount out the top. They shared a tight-lipped smile before Jack carefully inserted the incredibly narrow tip of the needle into Jesse’s arm.

Jesse dented the table next to him as he gripped it. He hated needles. Always had. Guessing by the green tint to Jack’s cheeks, he wasn’t overly fond of them either.

“Hard to be a doctor when you don’t like needles,” Jesse laughed breathlessly.

“Wasn’t an issue until after SEP,” Jack huffed as he discarded the needle point. “I was stabbed with so many needles and they hurt like a bitch. Worse than one, actually. Let me know when you can’t feel anything above your elbow.”

“Was SEP really that bad?” Jesse asked softly. “So many…?”

“It was worse than anything I could tell you, Jesse,” Jack looked him in the eye.

For the first time in a very long time, Jesse realized just how old Jack Morrison was. It was hard to believe it sometimes with the way he walked and carried himself, but he was fifty and had survived a war unlike anything humans had endured before. If anything, Jack was lucky to be alive. It was easy to forget that with the way that Jack smiled and talked, the way he made everyone in Overwatch feel welcome regardless of where they came from or where they fell on the chain of command.

“Sorry,” Jesse murmured.

“For what? Taking your mind off of the problem at hand?” Jack gave him a gentle smile and Jesse immediately felt better.

There was just something about Jack’s blue eyes and sweet smile that made you feel better. Jesse couldn’t put a word to it, but even when he was stuck in medical for stupid sicknesses; strep throat at twenty-three, ugh; just seeing Jack walk around, talking and smiling with the patients made everything feel less taxing on the system.

“You woulda made a great doctor,” Jesse murmured.

“Mmm,” Jack nodded as he tapped Jesse’s numb arm. “Angela, you’re up.”

Jesse shuddered as Jack followed Angela’s instructions to a ‘t’. He couldn’t watch Jack work, struggling to keep from throwing up as he heard each slice of the scalpel through his ruined skin, every tug as the scalpel cut at his muscles, and heard the wet splatter of blood against Jack’s clothing and the floor. The stench coming off of his ruined arm was horrendous and he gagged. Jack paused long enough to shove a bucket towards him so that he could be sick without losing his lunch on the floor.

He almost passed out when he felt the saw digging into the bone of his arm. He did his best not to scream; he couldn’t feel any pain, but it was just the knowledge that he was losing his arm that was making him lose his mind.

“Jack, I can’t,” he whimpered.

“There’s no going back, Jesse,” Jack grit out as he continued sawing. “It’s okay. I’m almost done.”

Jesse sucked in a deep lungful of air and then there was the sensation of something giving away. He looked over as Jack set the severed arm on the side tray. It looked oddly small and rather pathetic lying there on the tray. He gulped down some air as Jack carefully folded his skin over the stump of his arm just below the elbow.

“Now you have to,” Angela started to say.

“I know how to close up the wound, Angela,” Jack said as he started stitching sutures into the stump of Jesse’s arm. “Thank you. Please, have the medical bay ready for other horrific abominations against humanity. You might need to send out a medical evac team as well.”

“It will be done, Strike-Commander,” Nox promised.

“How’re you feeling?” Jack asked as he bandaged the stump of Jesse’s arm.

“Light-headed,” Jesse murmured as he watched Jack work. “There was no saving it?”

“No, Jesse,” Jack reached up and carefully cupped his cheek. “If there was a way, I would have done it immediately.”

Jesse nodded his head and closed his eyes. He did his best not to start crying, but tears started rolling down his face anyways. He let out a broken sob and hunched forward, sobbing like a child as he pulled his stump of an arm in close to his body. Jack’s arms wrapped protectively around him and pulled him in close, offering all the comfort he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why yes, I do subscribe to the idea that Jack wanted to be a doctor when he was younger and got blindsided by SEP. I think he would have been a great one.
> 
> And there goes Jesse's arm...again. Why is it so much fun to write about him losing it?


	3. Chapter 3

“The car isn’t far,” Jack said. “You can go wait in it.”

Jesse shook his head and got to his feet, slapping his old hat down on his head. Why they let him keep the shabby old thing was beyond Jack’s understanding, but even that small token seemed to give Jesse some strength. Jack wasn’t about to take that away from him.

“Not leavin’ ‘til I know what happened to Gabe,” Jesse said stubbornly.

He lifted his chin and Jack had to laugh softly. The kid was half an arm down but he was still ready to fight the good fight. He knew soldiers that weren’t as committed to their job as Jesse was. He reached out and clapped Jesse’s shoulder before he hoisted his pulse rifle back into his arms.

They set off down the corridor, Jesse hissing softly as he tried to find a way to hold his arm that didn’t hurt or interfere with his aim. Jack kept his mind on Gabriel, weaving his way through the facility until he was down in the bowels of the building. He pressed his back against the wall, swallowing as pain laced up through him. Gabriel was close.

“This way,” Jack whispered as he moved carefully along the wall.

“That bond you and Gabe have is freaky sometimes, boss,” Jesse said as he followed on Jack’s heels.

Jack managed a tight smile before he shouldered a door open. He swore and threw himself backwards, staring at the horrific sight in front of him. Jesse, who had been doing his best not to vomit since the surgery, turned away to be sick all over the floor.

“T-that bad?” Gabriel called shakily.

Jack stumbled forward, doing his best not to vomit. Gabriel’s stomach had been cut open so that his intestines were left to steam in the air. Probes were stabbed into his guts, measuring pH levels of whatever it was that called his belly-guts home. Jack could see the base of Gabriel’s lungs expanding as he breathed in and, if he looked carefully, he could see Gabriel’s heart beating. To make it all the more horrific, a screen was set just under Gabriel’s shoulders to keep him from seeing what was being done to him.

“Jack, what’s behind the screen?” Gabriel asked.

“They gutted you,” Jack whispered as he walked forward. “Gabe, can’t you feel that?”

“They have so many chemicals pumping through me that I’m lucky to be conscious,” Gabriel replied as he lifted a hand.

Jack grabbed the trembling hand and gently pulled it to his chest. He leaned across Gabriel’s body, pressing his forehead to Gabriel’s sweat-slicked one. He sent as much love and soothing affection as he could through the bond, reaching out to take some of the pain into himself. Gabriel gently rebuffed his attempt to take the pain, but snuggled down into his love. Typical, stubborn Gabe.

“Nox,” Jack said, “we need that medical evac as soon as possible. Commander Reyes is in dire condition. I can’t transport him in the back of a car.”

“I need something to put on the file, Strike Commander,” Nox sighed. “The medical protocols are not accepting ‘emergency’ without details.”

“Skin of abdomen flayed,” Jack said. “Intestines punctured with test tubes.”

“What the fuck?” Gabriel whispered.

“Muscle mass in abdominal cavity missing,” Jack continued.

“How am I not dead?!” Gabriel shrieked.

“Gabe, ssh,” Jack whispered as he pushed his forehead closer to his husband’s. “We need that evac immediately.”

“Units are already moving towards your location, Strike Commander,” Nox said. “Dr. Ziegler suggests keeping Commander Reyes on whatever painkillers are available to keep him from going into shock.”

“Too late for that, Nox!” Gabriel snarled. “Fuck, fuck!”

“Gabe, look at me,” Jack gripped Gabriel’s hand tightly and squeezed. “We’re getting you out of here, do you hear me? You just have to keep a level head.”

“Level head?!” Gabriel snarled, his feverish eyes widening. “Let me rip your guts out and see how you feel!”

“You’re the one holding all the pain to yourself,” Jack said bitterly.

Gabriel glared at him before he dropped his head down onto the headrest of the medical bed he was lying on. He let out a broken sob and Jack settled down carefully beside him, holding his hand tightly between his own. Jesse stayed by the door, trembling no matter how hard he tried to stop.

* * *

 

Jack injected another dose of morphine under Gabriel’s flesh. Tears leaked fire-hot trails down his face, but he kept his fury and fear internalized. It would do nothing to fool Jack, but Jesse didn’t have to know how much this whole thing was fucking him up.

Jack stayed by his side as the morphine sent a hazy wave of relief through him. The world was foggy around the edges, but Jack was still solid no matter how much painkiller was pumped into him. His solid hand in his, that familiar weight settled on the side of the bed, that soft, ever present smile that said more than Jack ever could; it helped to keep him grounded.

If he said anything out loud, it was for Jesse’s benefit. He and Jack didn’t need to use words; their emotions were as telling to one another as any thousand words were. People often criticized him and Jack for not talking their problems out more, but the truth was, they didn’t need to. All of their dialogue happened internally, a debate that could take hours in real time happened much faster, got side-tracked because _someone was humming that damn song again_ , and then left because Jack had realized that the rerun of Sabrina the Teenage Witch was on and they hadn’t seen this episode yet. It would have been confusing for anyone else to try to follow, especially when they realized how many circles Jack could talk himself into when he got passionate about something, but he and Jack were so old hat at it that it was as natural as slipping on a comfortable pair of jeans. They were talking their problems through even when they were on opposite ends of the base and seething.

“How far out?” Gabriel murmured.

“Three hours,” Jack said as he ran his thumb over Gabriel’s cheek. “Next dosage isn’t for two hours.”

“I’ll be okay,” Gabriel closed his eyes and sighed.

Jesse didn’t make a sound from where he was standing guard. He hadn’t said anything the whole wait; Gabriel didn’t need to see the kid to know that he was horrified by what Gabriel’s body looked like. Jack had reacted just as poorly, so he didn’t doubt that it was horrific. As much as he wanted to know what had been done to him, he knew that it was better that he never saw it.

 _‘Fuck, I want to puke,’_ Gabriel murmured.

 _‘I’ll hold your hair if you do,’_ Jack promised.

_‘Brat.’_

_‘Hey, you married me,’_ Jack teased.

 _‘How could I ever do anything else with you constantly in my head? Wouldn’t you love to hear all the naughty things I would think about my other partner while we’re doing the nasty?’_ Gabriel shot his husband a smirk.

 _‘I would know all of your secrets and you would be in so much shit every few days,’_ Jack smirked right back.

“Strike Commander, Medical Officer Ziegler would like an update on Commander Reyes’ condition,” Nox interrupted them.

“He’s still stable,” Jack said. There’s a thin mesh over his innards that’s keeping germs out, by the looks of things.”

“That’s something, at least,” Angela sighed before Gabriel heard the sound of something rustling. “Team managed to hit a slipstream and will be there in about an hour. Just hang tight.”

* * *

 

Jesse was emotionally exhausted by the time the evac team arrived. They were all stronger than him, able to hide their mortification at the sight of Gabriel’s guts out in the open. They wheeled him carefully through the facility, taking his vitals the whole time and ignoring his snarls whenever he was jostled. Jack was talking quietly with the leader of the team, shaking his head as they tried to chastise him for going off on his own without proper backup.

“Jesse, get in the shuttle,” Jack called as he waved towards the open bay door. “I have a few things to sort out.”

“Right, boss,” Jesse saluted before he stumbled into the dropship.

He avoided as many eyes as he could as he sank down onto a seat. He was still in the stupid hospital gown, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it until they got Gabriel secure. His modesty was low priority; he didn’t even care if anyone could see his ass and balls. He tucked the remains of his arm up against his chest and let out a faint sigh as he closed his eyes.

He jolted awake as something landed in his lap, blinking up at Jack as the Strike Commander sat down beside him. Jack looked exhausted and was rubbing at his eyes.

“Change of clothing,” Jack said, indicating the lump of cloth in Jesse’s lap. “We’re taking off in ten minutes, so you’ll want to get changed fast. I can help if your arm screws you up.”

“Thanks,” Jesse murmured as he got to his feet and shuffled towards the washroom.

He struggled with the clothing, angrily shaking the remains of his arm at the second half of everything he pulled out. Jack slipped into the washroom after a few minutes and helped Jesse without a word, buttoning up his jeans and getting his belt set. Jesse pulled the shirt over his head and sighed as he tucked it into his belt. He glanced at Jack before setting his hat on his head.

“Thanks,” he murmured.

“You aren’t broken, Jesse,” Jack murmured as he pressed a warm kiss against his temple. “You’ll be okay once we get you back to base.”

Jesse gave his arm a small shake, looking down at the stump. “I…don’t like this,” he murmured. “I’m left-handed….”

“You’ll be okay,” Jack insisted before he hugged Jesse close. “You know I’ll help no matter what.”

“I know,” Jesse murmured as he returned the hug. “We should sit down.”

Jack nodded and they left the washroom. The rest of the evac team was strapping themselves in as they emerged. A few gave them dirty looks, but Jesse ignored them as he settled down in a seat and strapped himself in. Jack went to talk to the pilot and returned a moment later with an exhausted smile on his face. He sank down into the seat beside Jesse and passed out before the dropship had taken off.

Judging by how loud his snores were, he was extremely exhausted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack snores like a freight train, pass it on.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack stood trembling in the private room set aside for Gabriel. Angela was tapping away on her datapad, updating files for other patients while she waited for Jack and Gabriel to process what she had just told them. Jack sank down into the chair he had risen out of when Angela arrived and stared at the floor between his shoes.

“How can there be nothing that you can do?” he whispered.

“The extent of the damage is too great, Jack,” Angela sighed as she minimized whatever she was working on and adjusted the saline drip going into Gabriel’s arm. “He was lucky enough to be alive when you found him, let alone when he arrived on base.”

She brought up the charts with Gabriel’s vitals and started doing the usual doctor drone about the extent of the injury. He could see Gabriel’s dark features paling as he stared at everything, his hand settling fearfully over his stomach where the skin graft was still slowly working to cover his exposed guts.

“Angela, that’s enough,” Jack snapped as his hand shot out and gripped Gabriel’s.

He could feel Gabriel’s fear creeping up his spine. It was like liquid nitrogen seeping through every cell in his body, locking the muscles into place so that he could barely breathe. It was a few steps away from being a full-blown panic attack and Angela wasn’t even stopping. Why was she being so insensitive about all of this?

“He deserves to know the extent of his injuries,” Angela said.

“Your bedside manners need some work,” Jack growled. “We get it; Gabe’s fucked up. You don’t need to strip away whatever little hope we have.”

“This isn’t like Genji,” Angela sniffed and shook her head. “I can’t fix…this.” She made a vague gesture towards Gabriel’s stomach and turned away. “I’m sorry, Commanders. I’ll give you some time to talk everything over.”

Jack bowed his head as Gabriel stared up at the ceiling. “All those funds thrown at your feet,” he growled at Angela’s back, “and you have nothing to show for it. Some expert in the field you turned out to be, Dr. Ziegler.”

He saw her shoulders tense for a moment before she continued on. He didn’t care how deeply his words had just cut; she deserved it. She had brought Genji back from the brink of death in a much worse state where he was missing limbs and a good number of his internal organs, but she couldn’t save Gabriel’s life? Gabriel’s internal organs were fine, for the most part, and he just needed to regrow his stomach muscles. It felt like a blow to the gut and he had never wanted to vomit and cry at the same time in his life.

Jack reached out and took Gabriel’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Tears trickled down Gabriel’s face, but he didn’t make a sound. He never had been noisy when he cried; Jack had always been jealous of it. He was an ugly crier, loud and noisy and the mess his mouth and nose made was enough to make anyone sick. There was no hiding it when he lost it; Gabriel could always just look away and no one would know the difference. Gabriel glanced at him and managed a small smile.

“Jack,” he whispered and pulled his hand close. “I’m so fucking scared.”

“Me too,” Jack admitted as he leaned forward.

Gabriel shifted and Jack climbed onto the bed without another word. He settled high on the bed, cradling Gabriel’s head against his chest. Gabriel’s arms wrapped tightly around his chest and he let out a broken noise. Jack ran his fingers gently down his husband’s neck, trying to offer support and comfort.

“What do we do?” Gabriel whispered.

Gabriel must have been terrified if he was bothering to say anything out loud. Jack leaned his head against the wall behind the bed and shook his head. He didn’t have to say anything; his sense of helplessness was conveyed easily from his heart to Gabriel’s. Gabriel’s arms tightened around his waist before he shifted closer.

Jack tried to keep his misgivings to himself about the whole situation, but he couldn’t keep secretes from Gabriel. His anger at Angela and her lack of assistance piqued Gabriel’s interest and Jack couldn’t stop himself from smiling as his husband plucked the emotions from their mooring and started picking it apart. Jack let the ideas flow between them, smiling wider as Gabriel expertly picked apart every little thing that Jack had noticed, mentally documented, and filed away as crisp and clean as if he were taking in a battlefield.

“Jack,” Gabriel murmured. “When did you stop trusting her?”

Jack shook his head and rubbed his thumb over Gabriel’s cheek. “I don’t know,” he murmured softly. “Everything seemed…I don’t know. Maybe after she saved Genji, I guess.”

 _‘Because she was willing to save him but not anyone else in a similar situation,’_ Gabriel mused. _‘You consider this to be a sign of, what?’_

 _‘If I knew, what would you call me? Paranoid?’_ Jack asked.

 _‘Maybe, but I know you don’t like to make baseless accusations,’_ Gabriel purred as he looked up at him.

 _‘I think she saw Genji as her cashcow, as it were,’_ Jack sighed. _‘She saw a means to propel herself into medical history and be made immortal. Maybe get more funds for her attempts at necromancy.’_

 _‘It’s not necromancy, Jack,’_ Gabriel laughed as he reached up and tugged playfully on Jack’s earlobe. _‘But I see what you mean. It is unsettling and Genji does not fully trust her either.’_

 _‘So what now?’_ Jack asked bitterly. _‘We just let you die?’_

Gabriel was silent, churning an idea in his mind before he looked up at Jack. _‘Moira.’_

Jack snarled without a second thought. Gabriel lifted himself up to meet Jack’s gaze, his eyes even and gaze steady. Jack dug his fingers into Gabriel’s arms, glaring at his husband even as the truth of his decision settled in his gut. Jack put up one more defence, baring his teeth as he shook, but he conceded under Gabriel’s gentle intensity.

“Where is she?” Jack whispered.

“Blackwatch research wing,” Gabriel murmured. “Bring her. She’ll know what to do.”

Jack closed his eyes and squeezed Gabriel’s hands before he got to his feet. He swallowed thickly as Gabriel leaned back against the bed, staring at the ceiling as Jack left. Angela barely nodded to him as he left and he almost wanted to smash her face off of the table she was working at. He wouldn’t be forced into this corner if she had done her job.

She couldn’t give Gabriel a second look, but she was busy working on a temporary arm for Jesse. Gabriel was slowly dying, but Jesse needed that fake arm. He loved Jesse to pieces, but it didn’t stop him from hating the man in that instant for unintentionally drawing needed attention away from his dying husband. It rankled all the way to his core, but instead of going after anyone, he headed for the Blackwatch sector of the Swiss headquarters.

Agents scrambled out of his way, saluting smartly as he breezed past them. He barely acknowledged them as he headed for the labs, steeling himself for the encounter with Moira O’Deorain. He didn’t like the woman; he hated her lack of ethics and morals, but he thought it was stupid to fire her. She was the sort of person that needed to be constantly supervised to make sure she didn’t push too far into the realm of immoral experiments. The UN had wanted her gone, but Jack had sent Gabriel to recruit her to Blackwatch instead. He didn’t want her walking out into the world to whatever person was willing to pay for morally apprehensible or questionable experiments.

He pushed his way into the lab and glared at the understudies. They scrambled away as quickly as they could, leaving a temporarily stunned Moira behind to finish filing her research. She reached up to remove her eyepiece and cleared her throat.

“Strike Commander,” she greeted carefully. “What can I do for you?”

Jack took a deep breath and gave her a cold glare. “I need you to save Gabriel’s life,” he said. “No matter what.”

* * *

 

He could hear Angela shouting in the main area of the medical bay. He lifted his head, flexing his fingers as he leaned back in the bed. He could barely move as it was since almost all of his stomach muscles were gone, but he could move his hips to get himself around the bed. It hurt like hell, but he couldn’t stand just lying down all day. He was a man of action; stagnation was the bane of his existence.

“Move, Angela,” Jack’s voice was as hard as a rock. “I have a different expert I want to have a look at Gabriel.”

“She is no an expert! She’s a butcher!” Angela shrieked.

“And yet she has a means to save Gabriel’s life where you, the proverbial savior, cannot,” Jack hissed. “Dr. O’Deorian, this way.”

Gabriel lifted his chin as the door to his room was opened. Moira entered the room and walked up to his bed without a moment’s hesitation. She wasn’t smiling, but she was radiating excitement. Gabriel watched Jack close the door to the room and let out a slow sigh. He waved a hand towards the table beside him.

“Medical records,” he said. “Dr. Ziegler is meticulous.”

Moira picked up the file and started leafing through it. Her eyebrows rose as she read through the file, glancing at him on occasion. She closed the file after a few minutes and waved the file at her face; she was overwhelmed by what she had seen and was both excited and mortified. He was used to seeing that expression when she was working through her animal test subjects’ lab results.

“This is bad,” she said. “But, I think I can reverse the removal of your muscles. It may take a few months of testing, though.”

“Whatever is necessary, Moira,” Gabriel said. “I…am compliant.”

He watched her jaw spasm like she was trying to hold back a smile. She took a deep breath before turning towards Jack. She squared her shoulders and opened her mouth, clearly expecting a fight.

“Don’t,” Jack growled. “I will ensure that you will not be disturbed and that any medical supplies you need for your…procedure will be made available.”

“I…thank you,” Moira said, her voice a few notes higher than usual. She had not been expecting him to be agreeable. “I hope that this has the results you desire, Strike Commander.”

“So long as Gabriel lives, I don’t care,” Jack growled before he turned and stormed out of the room.

Moira’s posture relaxed as she turned to look at Gabriel. She arched an eyebrow before smirking and shrugging her shoulders. She rested her hands on her hips and leaned back.

“All that talk and he can’t even stick around to see me get started,” she said.

“He would have killed you,” Gabriel said as he closed his eyes. “All he would have had to see was one small twinge of pain on my face and he would have ripped your heart from your chest. No questions asked and no second chances.”

Moira stuttered out something before she gripped the tray. “Then why come get me?” she demanded. “If he doesn’t want you to be hurt, why go through with my genetic theories?”

“Because he will do anything to save me,” Gabriel chuckled sadly. “Even if it goes against everything he stands for. I mean a lot to him, Doctor.”

“I don’t,” she started to say before Gabriel lifted a hand to silence her.

“Focus on your work, Moira,” he said. “Jack will thank you after I’m fine. Trust me.”

She let out a soft snort before she started scribbling on a datapad, mumbling under her breath. Gabriel let out a soft sigh and leaned back on the bed. He was so tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Moira! Time for you to prove yourself to the Strike Commander by saving his husband. Because Angela isn't going to.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack’s fists rained furious blows into the punching bag. It had been specially reinforced just for him so that he didn’t bust the thing open after a few punches. His enhanced strength made regular workout equipment break before he was even giving it half of his potential. He grit his teeth, glaring at the punching bag as he tried to work his fury out.

There wasn’t a lot he could do for his husband and it infuriated him. He couldn’t force Angela to help him; she was positive that there was nothing more to be done. She would have let him die if it suited her. It wasn’t fair; Gabriel had given his life for everyone in the organization. He shouldn’t have had to go to someone like Moira in order to save someone like his husband.

“Jack,” Jesse called as he walked into the training room. “Hey, how long’ve you been in here?”

Jack grabbed the punching bag to keep it from slamming into his face and grit his teeth. “Does it matter?” he demanded. “I’m just staying in shape.”

“Jack,” Jesse’s voice was cautious as he walked over and rested a hand on Jack’s arm. “Come on, you need to stop before you hurt yourself.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jack snapped.

“What, you think you beatin’ the shit out of somethin’ is gunna help Gabe?” Jesse demanded. “Whoa!”

Jack whipped around and grabbed Jesse by the front of his shirt. He hoisted the slimmer man off of his feet and quietly reveled in the fear in Jesse’s eyes. Finally, something that would react to his fury. A punching bag couldn’t give him a reaction; Jesse could.

“Do not think to tell me how to deal with my husband’s current state,” Jack growled. “You don’t know anything, Jesse.”

Jesse stared before he swallowed and lifted his chin. “That don’t mean you get to treat me like shit,” he hissed. “Yer outta line, Strike Commander. Gabe wouldn’t approve of that.”

Jack’s hands tightened in Jesse’s shirt before he set him down. He took a deep breath and looked away, pushing his fingers up into his graying hair. He was so out of line that he didn’t know what to do with himself anymore.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I….”

“I get it,” Jesse said shakily. “I…I don’t have a bondmate. Probably never will. I can’t understand what yer goin’ through, Jack. But…I’m here for you. No matter what.”

Jack shook his head and rubbed his palm into his eye. “Jesse, you don’t want a bondmate,” he said softly. “It sounds romantic, but it’s nothing like you could imagine. It’s pain and misery and happiness and joy and…and everything. Your thoughts aren’t your own anymore. Your emotions aren’t your own anymore. They’re shared. They’re yours, both of yours. And there is no moment where you aren’t aware of them.”

“So…everything that Gabe’s feelin’ right now…?” Jesse swallowed.

“I’m feeling it too,” Jack said before he turned his attention back to the punching bag. “And the only way to alleviate a pain that isn’t yours is to make a different one.”

Jesse’s hand settled on his arm before he could start throwing punches again. He glanced at the younger man and Jesse smiled sadly up at him.

“Hey, come get lunch with me,” he said softly. “Genji’s finally able to taste sauce and he can’t wait to drink it straight out of the bottle.”

“That kid is going to burn his stomach,” Jack managed a sad smile before he followed Jesse out of the training range. “He needs a keeper. A fulltime babysitter that can parkour just as good as Genji. That should keep the brat out of trouble.”

Jesse laughed as he kept a hand on Jack’s arm with his right hand, the left one still only covered with a skeletal frame of a prosthetic. Jack reached out to touch the prosthetic and nodded his head. It would do for now. It would all do for now.

* * *

 

“Pain?” Moira asked as she set another sticky pad onto his chest.

“Six,” Gabriel grit his teeth. “Fucking six.”

“That from the serum or just bed pains?” Moira asked as she hooked a wire to the pad and made sure it was transmitting.

“One for the bed pains,” Gabriel said. “Five for the rest.”

“I’m still amazed that you can differentiate between the pain,” she shook her head as she lifted a datapad and tapped on it. “Okay, heartrate is normal. Deep breath…and lung capacity is top tier. Fill up your diaphragm. Yes, just like that. A little under preforming, but it is right beneath where the muscle is growing, so that’s normal.”

“Yay,” Gabriel grimaced. “So…?”

“Well, I’ll have to administer another dosage,” she said. “Your cells are regenerating a little faster than I anticipated, but they are still perfectly healthy. No signs of deterioration.”

“Good,” Gabriel murmured as he looked at the ceiling. “I’m so sick of this bed.”

“Understandable,” she chuckled as she checked his bed pans.

He was a little surprised by how dedicated Moira was to her job. Most doctors did not like having anything to do with the dirty part of caring for a patient, but Moira didn’t seem to mind dealing with his excrements. He knew she was using it to gather further information for her serum, but he didn’t care. Someone was helping him not smell like piss and shit and he appreciated it.

Angela stepped into the room with one of her nurses in tow. She pressed her lips together at the sight of Gabriel with pads on his chest, but turned her attention to Moira. This was going to be interesting.

“And how is the patient?” she asked.

“You could just ask me,” Gabriel commented. “Sitting right here, Angie. My stomach injury didn’t make me mute.”

Angela’s blue eyes flicked towards him in annoyance before looking back at Moira. Moira ran her fingers through her hair, pushing the red strands back into the swept-back bob she kept with meticulous care. She gave herself a small shake and smiled.

“He is recovering rapidly,” she said. “A few days ahead of schedule, but I expect that to level out soon. Would you like a sample of the serum, Angela? I would love to see what your nanomachines could do with it. Imagine the possibilities!”

“I would like a sample to make sure that it is within legal boundaries,” Angela said. “I know how you have no qualms about subjecting others to your unethical treatments.”

“I have the Strike Commander’s okay,” Moira glared at her.

“Who hasn’t been into the medical bay to see the Commander since he assigned you to his care,” Angela said with a tight smile. “This is my medical bay. You have access to the supplies, but all procedures go through me.”

“You,” Moira started to say before Gabriel lifted his hand.

“Do as she says, Moira,” he said. “It’s her medical bay. I expect her to do the same if she were in your labs.”

He saw the way Angela bristled at the suggestion that she would be caught dead in the Blackwatch labs and did his best to keep his satisfaction off of his face. Moira didn’t look impressed, pursing her thin lips together as she shot him a glare, but did as he ordered. It was best to placate Angela while he was still in her territory. Jack’s animosity towards her was really starting to bleed into him, it would seem. They’d have to talk about that.

Moira collected a small sample of her serum from the container it was agitating in and handed it over to Angela. Angela nodded before turning and heading for the door. She paused at the threshold, clearly wanting to turn around and say something, but was deciding on whether or not it was wise.

“I hope this isn’t a mistake, Gabriel,” she said gently. “I don’t want you to regret it.”

“I live with my mistakes, Angela,” Gabriel replied. “It’s what makes me human.”

Angela nodded her head and left. Gabriel shook his head and settled back against the pillow, swallowing as Moira worked on whatever it was she was doing with her information. He dozed for a little while, sinking down into blissful oblivion before he jolted awake with a grin.

“Jack!” he laughed as his husband stepped into the room. “You look like shit, old man.”

Jack gave him a tight smile before he nodded to Moira. “Some privacy, doctor.”

Moira blinked before she gathered her notes and left the room, shooting a curious look at the Strike Commander as she closed the door. Jack was in his workout slacks and a loose t-shirt that was covered in sweat stains. His hair was ruffled and greasy, his eyes a little bloodshot, and the stubble around his jaw looking tragically white. He looked like a normal, everyday man that was trying to deal with his spouse’s unexpected illness. It was as attractive as whipped cream and cherries.

“I take it back,” Gabriel grinned as Jack walked over to him. “You look hot.”

“You’ve got a bad case of cabin fever,” Jack said as he sat down in the chair beside him.

Jack reached out and took his hand, running his thumb across Gabriel’s knuckles. Gabriel watched him for a moment before tilting his head to the side.

 _‘Black thoughts on a black day?’_ he asked.

 _‘I’m sending Jesse and Genji away from the base,’_ Jack said. _‘Indefinitely.’_

 _‘Oh?’_ Gabriel blinked.

 _‘Something’s coming, Gabe,’_ Jack murmured. _‘I don’t know what or when, but the air’s charged with something. I don’t want them here when it happens. I don’t want our boys getting hurt. I already arranged for Lena to be sent to the base in Gibraltar with Winston to continue her work.’_

 _‘Hmm,’_ Gabriel frowned as he lifted Jack’s hand to his lips and gently kissed over the large knuckles. _‘I approve. You’ve been restless lately. I can feel it when I’m sleeping. You’re always moving and I know you’re starting to get surly.’_

 _‘I don’t like what we’ve had to do to save you,’_ Jack murmured. _‘I…I don’t want you to suffer, Gabe.’_

 _‘Suffering means I’m alive,’_ Gabriel smiled and shook his head. _‘I knew it was going to hurt. But, Moira is doing everything she can for me. I appreciate it. She’s…well, she’s ambitious.’_

 _‘And without scruples,’_ Jack shook his head. _‘Hell, I’m scared she’s using you for tests that she couldn’t get to work on her animal subjects.’_

 _‘If it saves others?’_ Gabriel asked. _‘Isn’t that worth it?’_

Jack looked away, but his agreement pulsed between them. Gabriel smiled and reached up, running his fingers over Jack’s cheek. He sent a gentle teasing wiggle through their bond, rubbing his thumb over the white stubble.

“Getting old,” he teased.

“Been getting old for a while,” Jack smiled at him. “We can’t all age like fine wine.”

“Jack, you’re like fine whiskey; you only get better with age,” Gabriel laughed.

“You’re only calling me that because whiskey can be made from corn,” Jack shook his head. “Asshole. Everyone makes the corn jokes because of that one picture of me in ‘Farmer’s Monthly’. I was ten and proud of the corn I’d grown. How was I supposed to know it looked like a dick?”

“Aw, but I love you no matter what, my cornbread,” Gabriel pursed his lips teasingly at Jack and made a kissy noise.

Jack laughed and shoved his face away. The break in his melancholy mood was a relief; Gabriel knew that Jack would be back in his rut soon enough, brooding over Gabriel’s condition. For now, though, it was the old Jack he knew and loved.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack might have asshole tendencies when he's in pain, but he's still a good dad. Don't judge him too harshly; he's super stressed and worried and anyone in that position would lash out.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack stumbled into Gabriel’s room and stood there in the doorway. Moira had a needle in his upper arm, her thumb resting on the plunger. They blinked at him in surprise before Moira injected the serum and quickly disposed of the used needle.

“Strike Commander, you’re bleeding,” Moira said and motioned him towards a chair. “How did you get past Ziegler?”

Jack stumbled into the chair and sank down, staring at his knees. He hissed as Moira started to clean the wound at his hairline, but didn’t respond to her question. Gabriel watched him, feeling the anguish and disbelief that rolled through him. He’d just gotten back from a mission and, while Gabriel had sensed the panic and fear in his husband, he couldn’t figure out what had happened to him.

“Ana’s gone,” Jack whispered. “She went after a rogue sniper against my orders and she never came back.”

Moira dropped the tweezers she had been holding and cursed softly at the clatter they made as it bounced off the tray. She scrambled to grab it, looking from Jack to Gabriel. Gabriel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He focused on their mingled anguish and slowly started working through it and help to soothe Jack’s worry.

“The civilians?” Gabriel asked.

“Safe and all accounted for,” Jack replied.

“Then you completed your mission,” Gabriel said. “Ana’s choices are her own.”

“I left her behind,” Jack whispered. “I never leave people behind.”

“What happened after she defied your orders?” Gabriel asked.

“She turned off her communicator and even Nox couldn’t pinpoint her,” Jack said. “I couldn’t find her and had to get the civilians out. I made a choice and….”

“You made a choice,” Gabriel agreed. “And you chose the civilians that couldn’t defend themselves over a trained military personnel. You did what you had to.”

“I’m sorry that Ana was unable to be recovered,” Moira whispered. “But Commander Gabriel is correct, Strike Commander. You had to make a call; no one else would have chosen differently.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Jack nodded his head to her as she left the room to dispose of the used medical equipment. “There will be a memorial later for her service.”

 _‘I’m retiring Reinhardt before I lose him too,’_ Jack added as he leaned back in the chair to let Moira finish cleaning him up. _‘He won’t be happy but….’_

 _‘It will give him time to mourn,’_ Gabriel murmured as he rubbed his eyes.

Ana Amari, gone; it didn’t seem possible. Ana had been a staple of Overwatch since its beginnings. For her to be gone didn’t feel right. Gabriel knew how hard Jack was taking it, but he was numb, not completely capable of feeling what Jack was going through. It was like moving through a thick fog in a forest he wasn’t familiar with.

“Jack,” Gabriel reached out towards his husband. “Jack.”

Jack’s gloved hand settled in his and Jack’s blue eyes trembled with unshed tears. Gabriel didn’t have to say anything before Jack was carefully shrugging out of his duster and hanging the filthy garment over the back of the chair. He climbed up onto the medical bed and snuggled in against Gabriel’s side, tucking his face into Gabriel’s shoulder. He started to cry as soon as Gabriel’s arm wrapped protectively around his shoulders, pulling him in close and giving him a safe space to vent his pain without anyone bothering them.

When Moira returned, Jack was sleeping against his chest, one arm wrapped lazily around Gabriel’s waist. A rare, genuine smile tugged at the corners of Moira’s mouth before she set a mug of steaming liquid down by Jack’s arm.

“Camomile tea,” she murmured as she put a lid on it to keep the warmth in. “Figured he’d need it.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel nodded his head to her.

She nodded her head before returning to her notes, scrolling through the information with a neutral expression on her face. Gabriel let out a soft sigh before he shifted closer to Jack and rested his cheek against his forehead.

* * *

 

Moira watched Gabriel and Jack sleep and wondered what the effects of their affection would cause on her experiments. Gabriel had been doing well in the weeks after his…accident, but he had recovered even faster once Jack started visiting more. It had given her more than enough information to custom tweak the serum to regrow Gabriel’s stomach muscles, but she wanted to try something else too.

She would need Gabriel’s permission first, of course. The Commander might have tolerated her experiments because they were useful and generally worth the effort, but he would never approve of her experimenting on someone without their consent. Annoying, certainly, but completely necessary, even with Blackwatch’s history.

She glanced up as the door to the room opened and she frowned. She needed to get a damn doorbell installed so that people stopped randomly interrupting her while she was working. It was one thing to mess up a mental calculation when she was checking her work, it was another to make her miss a blood vessel when she was trying to draw blood.

“Why is the Strike Commander in here?” Angela demanded.

“Taking a nap, by the looks of it,” Moira replied as she turned to face Angela. “Is there something you need from him, dear?”

“I need to know why a search team wasn’t sent out for Ana,” she snapped. “He goes all out for Gabriel, but won’t do the same for Ana?”

“From my understanding, Jack knew where Gabriel was and was able to stage the entire rescue on his own,” Moira said. “Ana turned off her communicator.”

“And how do you know that?” Angela demanded.

“Am I chopped liver all of a sudden?” Nox asked sarcastically. “Dr. Ziegler, I informed you that Strike Commander Morrison was resting and that he would give you a full debriefing as soon as he was able. Your need to be informed is secondary to other members of high command, who have already received his report.”

“Which you no doubt wrote for him,” Angela snapped.

Moira arched an eyebrow as a hologram of a classical demon appeared beside her. Nox cocked his head to the side before shaking his head. Angela looked a little pale at his appearance, but did her best to hide it quickly. Most of the base wasn’t used to dealing with Nox in his holographic form, but Moira had seen him walking with Gabriel enough times to not be too startled.

“Strike Commander Morrison gave me permission to write the events of the mission down for debriefing,” Nox said. “He is currently in no emotional state to write anything, let alone do it in a manner that would benefit the comprehension of the reader. I am tasked with making the commander’s life easier and I do my duty with no restraint.”

Moira saw the snarl of “it’s in your programming” crawl across Angela’s face. Moira had said the same thing whenever Gabriel had initially deferred judgement to the AI. Nox had not taken it kindly and she learned quickly not to insult the AI in charge of handling most of her files.

“I will have the Strike Commander talk with you when he is able,” Nox promised before he vanished. “Moira, your serum is ready.”

“Thank you, Nox,” Moira nodded and turned away from Angela.

“You don’t fool me,” Angela growled before she left.

Moira rolled her eyes in annoyance before she went to check over her latest batch of serum. This should work nicely to get the final batch of muscle cells to grow.

* * *

 

Jack sat himself straight in his desk chair and listened to Angela rage at him. He kept his emotions under lock and key, but Gabriel was growling at the back of his mind, prowling in the background like a furious wolf looking for an opening to attack. Angela’s anger was justified, of course, and he was willing to wait and hear her out.

“You left her! You went back for Gabriel but you left her!” Angela shrieked.

“Gabriel’s location was known to me,” Jack said. “If you are aware of where she is at this moment, do not withhold that information from me.”

“You won’t sweep the area?” Angela demanded.

“Angela, I did not return to base until the area was swept to look for survivors. Ana was not found. There were no traces found,” he replied. “All possible avenues for retrieval were exhausted before we had to admit that she was gone. Resources are limited since the UN started analysis all of our missions to the umpteenth degree. We cannot go looking for someone that has not attempted to get in contact with us.”

“You…you,” Angela shook with anger.

“Angela, if anyone should be upset with me, it is Fareeha,” he said coldly. “I can tolerate your outburst and anger as it is a form of grieving. I will not, however, accept you insulting me personally when you have never had to make the same decisions that I have made. You are a doctor, a talented one, but not a military commander. Hard decisions have to be made and I will stand by each of them no matter how much they tear me apart.”

She glared at him as tears started falling down her face. “You are a monster,” she whispered. “A monster hiding behind the shine of your position. I wish I had seen it sooner. Overwatch was a mistake.”

“Maybe,” Jack replied with a small shrug. “But you have a job to do, don’t you? Return to the medical bay where your opinion will save lives. Isn’t that what you want to do, Dr. Ziegler?”

Angela left with a snap of her heels, storming off back towards the medical bay. Jack settled back in his chair and closed his eyes, willing the tears away. He was just working through his deep breathing exercises when he heard the door to his office swish open. He opened his eyes and let a long sigh.

“All packed, Reinhardt?” he asked as he got to his feet.

“ _Ja_ ,” Reinhardt murmured as he hung his head. “I’m not happy, Jack, but I understand. I hope you are careful, my friend.”

“Don’t worry about me, Reinhardt,” Jack smiled as he walked over to his friend and clapped his massive arm. “No matter what happens, I will figure out a way to survive.”

“I hope so,” Reinhardt smiled sadly before he clapped a hand to Jack’s shoulder and squeezed. “For glory.”

“Stay safe, Reinhardt,” Jack smiled as he stepped forward and gave Reinhardt a big hug. “I’ll miss you.”

Reinhardt nodded his head before he returned the hug, squeezing tightly. They pulled away after a few minutes and Reinhardt left with a sharp salute. Jack let out a long sigh and wandered back to his desk. Jesse, Genji, and Reinhardt were sent away. Torbjörn was stationed at the base in Sweden to be closer to his family. Ana was gone. Gabriel was fighting against death. He was alone against the world and he knew that Overwatch was coming apart underneath him.

He closed his eyes and pressed his hands together under his nose. He was going to fight for all that he was worth, but he knew that it probably would not fix anything. Overwatch’s death was coming and he would have to be ready to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Overwatch is falling apart under Jack's feet and all he can do is get the people he loves out of the crossfire and hope for the best.


	7. Chapter 7

Gabriel stared at his hands as Moira excitedly took note of what had happened. He had agreed to her additional experiments, believing her when she said that it would be helpful for him on future Blackwatch missions whenever the inquiry was finished. Now, now he was realizing how stupid that agreement had been.

Moira was ambitious. She wanted to unlock the human potential down to the genetic level. He thought it was a little barbaric, but he could see the potential. Being able to rewrite genetic code to eliminate a host of genetic diseases, stop cancers from spiralling out of control, and even reverse birth defects would be a massive step forward for humanity. But this?

“What have you done?” he whispered.

His skin was drifting off of his body, rising in thin plumes of smoke. He knew the same thing was happening to the rest of him and growing worse as his heart continued racing. Moira rested a hand on his shoulder as she looked over his vitals.

“Your genetic material was rewritten,” she said. “No other Blackwatch agent can do what you do, Commander. Your cells regenerate faster, you can collapse into individual cells whenever you desire; you will be unstoppable, Commander. Imagine the possibilities.”

Gabriel took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He could feel Jack’s panic rising next to his own, his husband’s worry skyrocketing as he realized that something had startled him. He did his best to calm down, closing his eyes to focus on his heartrate. He slowly pulled it down to a reasonable level before he opened his eyes again.

“Moira, you did not tell me you intended to rewire my genetics to this degree,” he said. “We will discuss this later. Right now, I need to report to Jack and show that I’m ready to be reinstated.”

“Of course,” Moira nodded as she started removing the pads and nodes monitoring his vitals. “It will be helpful, Commander, I promise.”

Gabriel didn’t bother saying anything as he slowly got up from the bed. His limbs were weak, but not completely atrophied. He took a deep breath before he started moving slowly towards the door. He paused and pulled on the clothing Jack had dropped off earlier, smoothing out the front of his favourite hoodie and flipping the hood up over his head. He didn’t want anyone to see his hair now that it had time to grow in.

He walked slowly down the hall towards Jack’s office. A few people saluted as he passed, but the halls were relatively empty. That worried him greatly; headquarters was never this quiet. It was unnatural for a base full of hundreds of people to be silent. He picked up his pace a little, limping forward with grit teeth as his body refused to move to his desired speed.

“Jack,” he called as he pushed the door open. “Jack?”

“You noticed it too?” Jack asked as he turned away from the window. “It’s too quiet. You okay?”

“No,” Gabriel dropped the hood of his shirt and walked over. “Moira did something to me,” he said. “Rewrote my DNA. I don’t know the full extent of it but…I’m turning into smoke.”

“What?” Jack blinked at him in confusion. “Turning into smoke?”

Gabriel nodded and lifted his hand. He focused for a moment and skin turned black and drifted off of his fingertips. Jack’s eyes went huge and he threw himself away. His breathing was shallow and Gabriel couldn’t help but smile as Jack let his emotions run their course.

Jack’s emotions had always been more obvious than his own. His face was made to express emotions and anyone that knew basic human body language could figure him out in seconds. Some people would have called him foolish, but there was a benefit to it that Jack had figured out quickly. No one could say that Jack wasn’t being transparent about his feelings on a subject. It took a lot for him to lie about his emotional state and usually he had to reach for Gabriel to make it believable.

Jack took a deep breath before stepping closer, fitting his hand into Gabriel’s and squeezing. Gabriel managed a small smile before they rested their foreheads against each other.

“Why would she do that?” Jack asked after a few moments of silence.

“She said it would be useful on missions,” Gabriel replied. “I have yet to see how.”

“Well see once you get reinstated,” Jack shook his head. “Although, to be fair, I don’t know when that will be. The UN is dragging their damn feet and….”

The base rocked under their feet and they both threw an arm out to steady themselves. Gabriel looked out the window and watched a plume of smoke rise up out of the Blackwatch portion of the headquarters. His eyes widened and his mouth ran dry as he and Jack looked at each other.

“Evacuate the building,” Jack whispered as he pulled away. “Now!”

Gabriel bolted from the room as Jack started typing away on his keyboard. That tension they had felt building for years had finally erupted. He hoped they weren’t too late to save the innocent parties.

* * *

 

“Evacuate the headquarters immediately. I repeat, evacuate the headquarters immediately,” Jack ordered. “All bed-ridden patients in medical are priorities; get them out first. Help those that cannot get out. Get out if you are able to and do not come back into the building.” He turned the loud speakers off while his orders continued chiming through the base. “Nox, contact the local fire brigade, hospital, and law enforcement. We need as many people on site ready to receive injured people as possible.”

“Understood, Strike Commander,” Nox replied. “All emergency doors are activated and will be available for use immediately.”

“Transfer to your offshore databanks and remain there until I summon you,” Jack ordered. “Take as much information with you as you can.”

“Understood, Strike Commander,” Nox said. “See you on the other side.”

The lights flickered overhead before all the screens with Nox’s stylized ‘N’ went dark. Jack took a deep breath before he headed for the medical bay to help where he could. He knew there were agents and civilians in there that would need to be helped out of the building. He had to focus on the helpless first and then go from there.

He met the trickle of people heading for the medical bay and easily folded himself into the numbers. Angela was directing people to get patients out of their beds and onto gurneys or wheelchairs. Jack helped an agent into a wheelchair and pushed them towards the group of people evacuating them out the back entrance.

“Thank you, Strike Commander,” the agent murmured.

“Just worry about yourself,” Jack soothed. “You’re in good hands, don’t worry.”

The agent nodded as their wheelchair was lifted out of the entrance and down to the pavement. People were sprinting across the grounds, shouting at each other to hurry up, while helping get those with mobility issues out of harm’s way.

Jack nodded before he went back into the hospital. “That everyone?” he asked as one more person on a gurney was lowered out of the medical bay loading area and sprinted towards the gates.

“All the patients are out,” Angela agreed. “Thank you.”

“Get yourself to the rallying point, okay?” Jack instructed. “I’m going to make sure that Blackwatch is evacuating and not trying to hunt down the source of the explosion themselves.”

“Sir, I don’t think,” Angela started to say before Jack silenced her with a smile.

“Go, Angie,” he soothed. “They need someone to keep them on the straight and narrow.”

Angela bit her lip before she nodded and hurried after the last of her medical team. Jack turned once the doors were clear and rushed towards the Blackwatch section of the headquarters. Gabriel’s heartrate was normal and he was showing no signs of stress. That was a good sign, at least.

“Strike Commander!” Moira gasped as they both turned a corner and almost knocked each other to the ground. “Why aren’t you…?”

“Of course you went back for that fucking rabbit,” Jack teased as he pulled the slim doctor back to her feet. “Get out of the building, Moira. All of your research will be with Nox in the off-site banks. He’ll return it as soon as he can.”

“I’m not worried about the research; I have it saved elsewhere as well,” she huffed as she leaned forward to kiss over her genetically altered rabbit’s silky head. “I’m worried about Gabriel. I ran into him on my way here. He looked ready to kill.”

“I’ll deal with him. Get going,” Jack ordered before he gave her a gentle push. “Go.”

Moira nodded before she turned and fled, tucking her rabbit’s head against her chest. Jack almost shook his head again, but he kept moving instead. He had to find Gabriel.

His husband was waiting for him with a small group of agents trying to get a set of doors open. Gabriel glanced back at him and rested a shotgun on his shoulder.

“Talon,” he growled. “Managed to get the doors locked.”

“Wonderful,” Jack grimaced. “You certain that they’re…?”

His question was cut off by the doors suddenly exploding outwards. Screams filled the air as massive chunks of shrapnel slammed into the agents. Something embedded itself into his gut and Jack staggered backwards. He touched the wound, gauging how big it was and grimaced. That was going to tear up the intestinal tract real good; clear, mesh tubing, here he came.

“Jack?” Gabriel growled.

“Still here,” Jack reassured him as he rested a hand on his stomach and pulled his handgun out with the other. “Don’t think too many of your agents are though.”

“I see that,” Gabriel shook his head. “Come on; doors are open now.”

Jack grit his teeth and followed Gabriel through. Every step sent pain up through his torso, but Gabriel leant his strength to help him remain upright. They left the other agents behind, dropping a beacon to get the medical teams to find them whenever they arrived.

 _‘Fuck,’_ Jack hissed as he leaned against the wall.

 _‘You need a moment?’_ Gabriel asked.

 _‘I’ll rest when those bastards are dead,’_ Jack shook his head as he pushed off the wall and forced himself to follow Gabriel.

Gabriel didn’t look convinced, but they kept moving. The ground shook under their feet and Jack could feel the heat growing beneath his boots. He glanced at Gabriel before his husband grabbed him under the arm and hauled him down the hallway. They had barely gotten around the corner before the floor buckled. They watched it cave into a blazing inferno beneath them and Jack shivered.

“Gabe,” he whispered, reaching for him. “We need to get out.”

“Yah,” Gabriel agreed. “This is way out of hand. I…I’m sorry.”

Jack shook his head before he limped towards the stairs. Gabriel followed, watching their back. Just as Jack reached for the door, he spotted a shadow on the other side of the small window. He hissed and backed up, but the door swung open before he could get away. Bullets blasted past him, missing him by centimeters, but leaving him covered in stinging, burning grooves. He dropped to the ground, crying out in pain as he drove the shrapnel deeper into his belly.

Pain danced along his stomach as Gabriel fell down beside him. He shifted towards his husband, not needing to look at him to know how bad the damage was. The bullets aimed at him had missed their marks, but one had found its mark in Gabriel’s chest. It had blown through his lung and his life was draining away rapidly.

Jack shifted and dragged himself up and over Gabriel. He protected his husband’s head, glaring up at the Talon agents that were advancing on him. High-powered rifles were trained on them, but Jack didn’t care. He bared his teeth at the traitors before he lowered his head to press a kiss to Gabriel’s forehead.

 _‘I’m here,’_ he whispered as he heard a roar somewhere below them. _‘I’m here.’_

 _‘I love you,’_ Gabriel whispered. _‘I love you so much.’_

 _‘I love you too,’_ Jack promised as he tightened his grasp on Gabriel’s shoulders. _‘See you on the other side.’_

Heat rushed over his flesh, searing it down to the bone, and Jack squeezed his eyes closed. He heard the Talon agents shouting before the world was filled with a blinding white light and the burning stench of ozone. Jack felt heat rush down his lungs and steal his breath away. His head lolled to the side and he exhaled loudly until he sank into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel goes wraithy just in time to die. What a lovely life. And of course Moira goes back for the rabbits.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack let out a long gasp of air before he bolted upright. His face burned and his whole body felt like he’d been twisted into a pretzel, rolled down the stairs, and then left to uncoil on his own after his bones had shattered to pieces. His hand rose to his face and he felt two long incisions in his face.

Shrapnel? Must have been; he didn’t remember getting anything in his face though. When had that happened? After he passed out, clearly, but what had happened to him? What had happened to Gabriel?

 _‘Gabriel?’_ he reached out over the bond.

He met a wall of cold and recoiled. That was not natural. He probed it slowly, searching for even the tiniest opening of warmth. He’d never felt something like this before and it made his stomach clench. Why was Gabriel’s part of the bond cold? It was like that time Gabriel had gotten lost out in the snow while they were stationed in Russia, but this was much more intense.

“Jack!” he heard Angela shriek in surprise. “You shouldn’t be sitting up!”

Jack turned his head towards the sound of her voice and blinked as Angela hurried over. He let himself be pushed back down onto the bed and have the various tubes hooked up to him adjusted. She was fretting over him, tears leaking down her face as she reached out to touch his hair.

“Angela, my memory’s fuzzy,” he said. “What happened?”

“Talon agents planted bombs all through the base. They detonated first in the Blackwatch sectors and then continued through the rest of the headquarters. Zürich is gone,” Angela said.

“Fuck,” Jack grit his teeth. “Casualties?”

“Most of the Talon agents were found in the debris, a few Blackwatch agents that showed signs of torture,” she swallowed. “And Gabriel.”

Jack turned his head towards her. “Gabe’s not dead,” he said.

“Jack, I tried,” she whispered. “I tried to revive him, I did, but he…whatever Moira did to him, the nanites weren’t responding.”

“Angie, he’s alive,” Jack touched his chest and rubbed.

“You were both dead,” Angela snapped. “Officials wanted the world to think you were gone even though I was working on reviving you.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Jack said as he looked at the ceiling. “What better way to close down Overwatch than by having me die? When’s the funeral?”

“Yesterday,” Angela murmured. “You’ve been out for a while.”

“Pity, would have loved to limp in and scare the shit out of everyone,” Jack murmured. “Does Reinhardt know? Jesse? Genji? Lena? Torb?”

“No one else knows,” Angela said.

“Why?”

“Officially, you’re dead; it was the only way I was allowed to try to bring you back,” Angela said. “I can’t tell anyone.”

“Where’s Gabe’s body?” Jack asked as he reached out to the cold again.

“Freezer,” Angela murmured.

“Show me,” Jack said as he started to stand up.

“Jack, I..!” she started to protest, but he was already swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Fine. Fine. Just don’t move.”

She carefully removed some of the tubes from his arms and legs and helped him to his feet. He rested his weight on the IV drip stand and followed her over to a door set off to the side. She pulled the door open and a blast of cold air hit him in the face.

He gasped softly at the sudden change in temperature. He sucked in a deep lungful before he dragged the IV stand over to the body lying out on the table. Gabriel was covered with a thin sheet, but Jack knew he was naked under it all. Angela didn’t follow him in, waiting by the door as he stepped up beside Gabriel.

He reached out and ran his fingers through Gabriel’s hair. His husband’s lips were dark, understandable since he was freezing, and had his lips pulled back just enough to expose his top teeth. He leaned forward and kissed Gabriel’s still cheek.

 _‘This explains the cold,’_ he murmured softly. _‘You don’t have a heartbeat. Why’re you letting Angie think you’re dead?’_

 _‘Scared,’_ Gabriel replied softly.

His eyelid cracked open and looked up at him. Jack smiled and kissed slowly over Gabriel’s cold eyes. He nuzzled him and wrapped an arm around Gabriel’s waist. He settled down on the table and leaned forward, running his fingers slowly through Gabriel’s curls.

 _‘What did you hear?’_ Jack asked.

_‘I was dead, Jack. We both were. I don’t remember anything until Angie brought you back. I followed you out of that nothingness, but…I don’t have a heartbeat, Jack. No vital signs. Everything says I’m dead, but I’m not. And this smoke thing…oh gods, it burns, Jack. This cold keeps it at bay, but I can’t stay here. It’s driving me crazy.’_

_‘We’ll get out of here,’_ Jack promised. “Angie, can we get him out of here? It’s way too cold.”

“I have to keep decomposition from setting in,” Angela shook her head. “I don’t know what it will do…”

She cut herself off with a scream as Gabriel slowly sat up with a loud groan and pushed his head under Jack’s. Jack’s fingers rolled slowly through Gabriel’s hair as he felt a cold puff of breath on his neck. Angela stumbled away, staring at Gabriel in a mix of horror and disbelief, one hand rising to her hair.

“How?” she whispered. “He’s dead. I know he’s dead. I did the autopsy!”

“You brought Jack back to life; I followed,” Gabriel said, his voice hoarse from disuse. “Get me some clothes, please, Angie. It’s colder than Antarctica in here.”

Angela nodded before she fled, leaving Jack and Gabriel to limp back to the door using each other as support.

* * *

 

Gabriel shifted in the clothing that Angela had gotten for him. They were a half-size too small, but it was better than sitting there naked and cold. He was tucked in against Jack’s chest, both of them watching Angela scramble around her lab trying to find something. She was mumbling to herself, glancing over her shoulder fearfully as Gabriel shifted.

“I still can’t believe…it doesn’t make any sense,” Angela whispered.

“I don’t care,” Jack murmured as he pressed his head against Gabriel’s.

They rocked slowly on the spot, sharing a small smile before they looked back at Angela. She shivered before looking away, rubbing at her arms. Jack would have said something scathing if he wasn’t so exhausted.

“We can’t stay here, Angela,” Jack said at last. “You know that.”

“And what do you expect to do?” she demanded. “Head out into the world and say you aren’t dead?”

“I always worked better in the shadows,” Gabriel shrugged. “High time Jack took a leaf out of my book.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Jack agreed. “Besides, no more red tape getting in our way.”

“You’re going to get yourselves killed,” Angela hissed.

“That was always a possibility,” Jack shrugged and Gabriel mirrored him. “All we ask is that you continue to keep our current state of affairs quiet.”

Angela shook her head and lifted her hands. “Fine,” she said. “Fine. Just…don’t come to me for your medical needs. I can’t deal with what…Gabriel is. I can barely handle everything right now as it is. Both of you back even though I’ve already helped to bury you.”

“Understood,” Gabriel said as he got to his feet. “We’ll see you around, Angie.”

Jack rose stiffly beside him and Angela handed them large jackets with hoods. She mentioned that it was raining as they headed for the door to her home workshop, but they didn’t say anything in return. They stood for a moment on her doorstep before turning and vanishing in to the night.

 _‘Now what?’_ Jack asked as they walked side by side down the sidewalk, not even sparing a glance back at Angela.

 _‘Revenge?’_ Gabriel offered.

 _‘Never was very good at that,’_ Jack chuckled as he made Gabriel stop at a red light.

 _‘I am,’_ Gabriel shrugged slightly as he waited for the light to turn white. _‘Besides, those bastards deserve to suffer.’_

 _‘Yes,’_ Jack agreed. _‘But how do we go about it?’_

 _‘Gather information. Get contacts. Set up a base of operations,’_ Gabriel replied. _‘I’m old hat at this.’_

 _‘I’m not. I’m going to get us both killed,’_ Jack sighed as they started walking. _‘How’s it feel to be considered dead?’_

 _‘Feels weird,’_ Gabriel admitted as he looked up at the sky and let the cold raindrops patter against his face. _‘But I’m still alive. And I’m with you. So, really, it’s not too bad.’_

 _‘And the whole “no vitals” thing?’_ Jack asked as he stopped to squint at something in a store window.

 _‘That’s weird,’_ Gabriel said as he looked in the window beside Jack. There was nothing of interest, but Jack was already falling into the mindset of a Blackwatch agent. He was so proud of his husband. _‘But I’ll get used to it. We’ll have to see what this smoke ability does too. I wasn’t smoking the whole time I was frozen, so it’ll be interesting to see what all I can do when I’m not held back.’_

 _‘So we’ll have to get used to sleeping in a freezing room so you don’t flutter away on me,’_ Jack teased as he turned to press a kiss against Gabriel’s cheek.

A chunk of flesh fell away and they both stared at the bloody wad as it fell to the ground. Jack’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline as the organic mass started sizzling away into black smoke. Gabriel reached up to touch his cheek and felt the hole it had left behind. He could feel his teeth and gums and immediately pulled his hand away.

 _‘Okay. That’s unsettling,’_ Gabriel said.

 _‘I’m going to be fucking a corpse,’_ Jack shuddered. _‘Does this make you a zombie?’_

 _‘Well, I’m not craving brains,’_ Gabriel mused. _‘But maybe that’s because I’m standing next to your braindead ass.’_

Jack turned and stuck his tongue out at him before he continued walking. Gabriel trotted after him, poking his tongue through the hole in his face. He let out a snort before he darted in front of Jack and wiggled his tongue at him.

“What the fuck, dude?” Jack cackled as he looked away. “That’s so gross!”

“Kiss me, you fool!” Gabriel laughed before he pounced on his husband and kissed him. “Enjoy my decomposition!”

“Ugh!” Jack howled before he started running, dragging Gabriel along in his wake. “No! No disease for me!”

“YOU WILL LOVE ME!” Gabriel shouted as he chased after Jack. “YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ME, CORNBREAD!”

Gabriel felt his body dissolve into smoke before he rushed in front of Jack. He solidified just in time for Jack to slam into him and send them both toppling to the ground. They stared at each other in surprise before Jack covered his mouth and started giggling nervously.

“Holy shit,” he whispered.

“Holy shit,” Gabriel agreed before he leaned forward to kiss Jack’s lips. “This is so cool!

“That’s a matter of opinion,” Jack said as he pulled Gabriel to his feet and held him close. “But we’ll figure it out. Come on; I want to sleep in a decent bed.”

“Tell me about it,” Gabriel laughed as he followed Jack. “I’ve been lying on a slab of cold, hard metal for the past few weeks.”

He reached out and fit his hand into Jack’s. Jack squeezed his hand, pulling him in close as they looked for a cheap motel to hole up in and figure out their predicament. Gabriel didn’t know a low about what the future held, but he did know one thing.

Talon was going to be sorry for the day they killed Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where one bonded goes, the other follows. Death cannot hold one while the other lives.
> 
> Thank you so much for tagging along for the ride, everyone!
> 
> Enjoy the content? Buy me a coffee! Go to www.ko-fi.com/megsbf.


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